Step by Cautious Step, Austin Restaurants Begin to Reopen

After a depressing two months of imposed inactivity, Austin’s restaurants are gradually reopening.

From large establishments like downtown steakhouse III Forks to smaller mom and pop joints like Hoover’s Cooking and Homespun Kitchen and Bar in Dripping Springs, the process has been similar: thoroughly sanitizing surfaces and kitchen cookware, installing hand washers for customers, investing in disposable menus, rehiring and developing protocols for servers to interact with customers, spacing tables to observe social distancing norms, renewing relations with vendors and restocking kitchen supplies, acquiring gloves and masks for all personnel and, well, for most that’s the beginning.

They also have to realistically determine what the number of customers they can safely accommodate given their overall capacity.

Matt Franco, GM of Austin Java said “We’re opening on the 18th and all of us are pumped. Great to have cooks, servers, and the whole team back. We want all our customers to know the environment will be super safe.”

Brian Peters, GM of III Forks said “We’re not rushing! Every step we take will be considered with our customers’ and staff’s safety in mind.
We’ve also voluntarily reduced our capacity number to 15% as an additional safety precaution.”

Ronald Cheng, owner of the Chinatown restaurants, said “We’ve been feeding needy people around the city more than 300 meals a week. We also look forward to welcoming our regular customers back in to a safe and hospitable environment.”

And so – slowly, surely and safely – our local restaurants are coming back. I am sure that the food community will welcome them with open arms!